Leeds City’s Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) funded the grant, helping Imageco to put down a deposit on the 3.2m, 206sqm/hr flatbed without impacting its cashflow.
The new press, due for installation in November, will go in alongside Imageco’s existing stable of an EFI Vutek GS3250 LX Pro flatbed and several HP Latex 800Ws.
Managing director Nathan Swinson Bullough told Printweek that it was pleasing to see the company grow again following the pandemic.
He said: “We had shrunk compared to 10 years ago, and now the business is back up and growing, I just saw [the SwissQ] as the logical step after scouring the wide-format market.
“I was just blown away by the quality and capability of the machine.”
The latest grant is not the first arrangement the company has had with Leeds City’s LEP, a project designed to boost the number of jobs in the local economy.
Imageco has made five recent entry-level hires, now employing 28 – to receive this latest grant, however, it had to make the case that it would create at least three jobs, with £12,500 of funding available per three entry-level jobs created over the next two years.
The Nyala 4 was the right machine to give Imageco the growth to sustain that hiring, Swinson Bullough said.
He said: “I had a plan to get the SwissQ, improve production, the quality, and efficiency, and they liked it.
“If you don’t already want to create jobs, then there’s no point doing it, but if you are going to grow it just makes complete sense.”
Imageco is on track to turn over £3.4m this year, up from £3.1 last year, with Swinson Bullough hoping to break £5m within two years with the SwissQ installed.
Part of the confidence from the investment has come from a steady POS arrangement with bootmaker Doc Martens, which has seen the company take on a significant amount of flat board material as part of a sustainable marketing push.
Using paper-based media like Xanita, Katz and flute-board, and PVC-free window cling, the firm scored and folded large hanging panels for the campaign. The Nyala 4’s installation will only help with this type of work, said Swinson Bullough.
He said: “I see all this creative potential, which we’re quite excited about. We’ve not invested in large scale machinery for about six or seven years now, and the productivity and creative edge it will give us is fantastic.”
Swinson Bullough added that printers would be wise to look to their local authorities before investing.
He said: “Just find out what’s available: it really helps with cash flow, especially if you’re going to invest in staff as well.”
